Circular knitting machine attachment



Jan. 12, 1960 J. w. DANTZLER ETAL 2,920,467

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE ATTACHMENT Filed Jan. 24, 1957 5 Sheets-Sheet 1' 71%- 103 55 g, 7! LS 84 m 0 9 154 n2 we? I 1 70g, i- I 2- I 43 450. O 5@ 55 INVENTORS= UACK W 'DAN'rzLzaand VANCE WELLER.

E:'-'- .2 I BY mwq w ATTORNEYS Jan. 12, 1960 J. w. DANTZLER ETAL 2, 2

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE ATTACHMENT Filed Jan. 24, 1957 s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS. JAcK W- D ANTZLEE anol VANCE W. ELLER.

64;, M MAN ATTORNEYS Jan. 12,1960 J. w. DANTZLER' ETM 2,920,467

CIRCULAR KNITTING MACHINE ATTACHMENT Filed Jan. 24,1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3- I so I: :7 24 72 ea 7 "/I/I/ Q9 Ho VII/II/I II/Il/IIIIIIIIA r 2,920,467 ..Ptented Ja .1 :9 9

CIRCULAR KNITTING MAomNE ATTACHMENT Jack W. Dantzler, Hickory, and Vance W. Eller, Lenoir, 1 N.C., assignors to Fred K. Stevens, Hickory, N.C.

Application January 24, 1957, Serial No. 635398 .6 Claims. (Cl. 66-138) This inventionrelatesv generally to an attachment for changing yarn during operation of a circular independent needleqknittingmachine. Although this attachment is particularly adapted, for use with aknitting machine manufactured by 'the Hemphill Company and known as their model Scop, it is. to be understood that this invention is not limited to this machine since the principles ofv the inyention may be applicable to other. types of. circular knitting machines.

The machine with which .the present invention is associated is described and shown in the patent to Lawson et al. No. 2,217,022 and the patent. to St. Pierre No. 2,679,149. This type machine is used primarily for knitting an argyle type sock in which the leg or pattern .portion thereof is reciprocatorily knit at two knitting stations and wherein a complete course is knit with each reciprocation of the needle cylinder. When using this type of machine, the two knitting stations usuallyemployed .are a main knitting station and an auxiliary knitting station, both of which are used during reciprocatory knitting in the patterned leg portion with only the main knitting station being used during continuous rotary knitting in the top and foot of the stocking and during reciprocatory-knitting in the heel and toe pockets.

When knitting an argyle type. or patterned stocking on the Scop machine, the present practice is to knit the top, heel, foot and toe with a yarn feeding finger at the main knitting station. The yarn feeding fingers at this time being controlled from the main pattern drum and this limits the number of yarn changes available during the non-patterned areas of the stocking since this machine is limited as to the number of moves available to the main pattern drum. Although these machines, are elaborately equipped with various pattern mechanisms and drums to change yarns during the patterned leg portions of the stocking, the limitation of changing yarns during the non-patterned area from the main pattern drum only limits the pattern possibilities in any area other than the patterned leg portion and which has necessarily limited the pattern possibilities in the top, foot, heel and toe of argyle stockings.

It is therefore a primary object of this invention to provide an attachment for changing the yarn feeding fingers, at the main knitting station, during reciprocatory knitting in the partial courses of the heel and toe pockets and for changing the yarn feeding fingers during rotary knitting, at the main knitting station, during vthe rotary knit top and foot of the stocking. This new yarnchange mechanism will enable the machine to knitpattems heretofore impossible in the top, heel, footand toe areas to greatly enhance the appearance of the finished sock and provide a novel stocking having a greater sales appeal than; previously produced argyle type stocking.

It is another object of this invention to provide an attachment which may be easily and economically attached to a knitting machine for changing the yarnfeeding fingers to provide stripes in the rotary knit, top and footand to PFQYil? s i e rfiipp d area req pmc myt t i s in 2 the heel and toe pocketsrwhich attachment is under control of the main pattern drum and actuatedby movement'of thepattern chain. 7 Some of v the objects. of the invention ,having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken, in connection with the accompanying ,draw- .3 3 in Figure 2 ,and show' ings, in which- Figurel is a front elevation ofthe .upperright-hand portion of a Hemphillmodel Scop circular ,knitting machine and showing a portion of the yarn feedingfinger attachmentapplied thereto; f 4

.Figure 2 is aplan View. of. Figure l with some ot the parts broken away and other, parts in section for clarity; Figure} is ayerticalsectional.view .throughthem ain yarn I feeding station taken vvsubstantially along the line g the .lower central portion of the machine 'in elevation;

Figure 4 is a somewhat schematic vertical sectional view taken substantiallyalong the line 4-4 in Figure 2,;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure .4 with some of the parts in different positions;

Figure '6 is a view similar to Figure Swithsomeofthe parts in still another position; Figure 7 is a view of the right hand end of Figure l and showing the, lower portion ofthe knitting machine In section; 1

Figure 8 is a fragmentary. plan view of the operating linkof the attachment taken substantiallyalong the line 88 inFFigure 4;

Figure 9 is an elevation of the left-hand side offFigure 4, looking along the line 9-9 in Figured;

"Figure 10is a sideelevation of an argyle type stp'cking with a conventional argyle pattern in the legend .illustrating yarn changes in the top, foot, heel toe which maybe effected by this invention. r i i Refernfng to the drawings, the, numeral 10 designates the supporting frame of a'knitting machine in which a main pattern shaft 11 isrotatably supported (Figures "3 and 7). A sprocketwheel 1'2 is rotatably mounted on the shaft 11 and supports a'pattern chain 13; A suitable racking gearl4 integral with the sprocket wheel lz is provided for racking, in a conventional step-by-step manher, the pattern chain 13 and the sprocket 12 during operation of the knitting machine. During operation of the knitting machine thepattern chain'13 is moved one step with each I four revolutions of the needle cylinderj30.

- Uponsuitable lugs, not shown, on the left-hand race yarn .feedingtfingers atthe main knitting station, in a manner to be later described.

. The upper end of the frame" 10 'is-provided with a plate 25 (Figure 1)7suppor,ting a lower-bedplateltiv in which thelower end o'fa conventional needle cylinder30 is mountedffor rotation or reciprocation and connected to a conventional driving mechanism of the machine by suitable bevel gears, not shown. An .auxiliary cam plate 32 partially surrounds the needle cylinder'30 and supports a main stitch cam block'33 provided with the usual stitch cams and an auxiliary stitch cam block, not shown; at the opposite side of the cylinder- 30. The upper end of the needle cylinder 30 is surrounded by the-usual sinker cap 40 .and latchtring 41.1'z lhe .latch ring 41: is provided with a .maintyarn :finger throat L42. (Figure -3')' for reception. of ya plurality; ofpatteming mainyami feed ing fingers 43 and special or non-patterning yarn feeding fingers 43a and 43b. The yarn feeding fingers 43 are all controlled through the medium of pivoted corresponding yarn change levers 45, one end of which engages the yarn feeding fingers 43 and the opposite end of which is engaged by a primary control mechanism including wires 47 which are connected to the upper end of primary control links 50 and 51, the lower ends of which are suitably connected to the ends of respective levers 52 and 53, the reading ends of which are adapted to engage suitable cams on the main pattern drum 20. This primary control mechanism is conventional and fully shown and described in said Patent No. 2,217,022 to control the fingers 43 which feed yarn to the needles during the portions of the stocking other than the patterned leg portions.

A secondary yarn feeding finger control mechanism for controlling the feeding fingers 43, which are in operation during the patterned leg portion, includes a plurality of rockers or yarn change lever operating levers 55 (Figure 3), one end of each of which engages one end of the yarn change levers 45 and the other ends of the ievers 45 engage the feeding fingers 43. The levers 55 are pivoted intermediate their ends on a rod 56 and the opposite ends of which at times engage the periphery of a main pattern yarn control drum 60 mounted on a driven shaft 62 and at other times engage suitable cams mounted on the drum 60. The shaft 62 and the drum 60 are driven through bevel gears 63 and 64 to make one revolution with each four revolutions of the needle cylinder 30, in a conventional manner.

It is thus seen, that during the patterned leg portion of the stocking, upon one of the reading ends of the change lever operating levers 55 engaging a cam on the periphery of the drum 60 the inner end of the lever 55 will be moved downwardly to move one end of the lever 45 downwardly and move upwardly the end of the lever 45 engaging the yarn feeding finger 43 to thereby move the corresponding yarn feeding finger 43 to an inoperative position so that the yarn guided thereby will not be picked up by the needles passing the throat 42. With rotation of the drum 60, during knitting of the patterned leg portion of the stocking, the yarn feeding finger 43, controlled through the levers 55 and 45, will be continually moved or dance from operative to inoperative position and feed different colored yarns to selected groups of needles to form the pattern area of the stocking. As disclosed in said Patent No. 2,217,022, upon other than the patterned leg area of a stocking being knit the drum 60 may be shifted along the shaft 62 so that the reading ends of the levers 55 will be moved out of alinement with the cams on the drums 60 and not be eifected thereby and permit control of the yarn feeding fingers 43 from the primary control means including the main pattern drum 20, the links 50, 51 and the wires 47.

Thus, in the structure as shown in Patent No. 2,217,- 022 there is a primary yarn feeding finger control mechanism controlled from the main pattern drum and which is used in other than the patterned area of a stocking and a secondary yarn feeding finger control mechanism controlled from the pattern drum 60 and which is used only during the patterned leg portion of the stocking. In Patent No. 2,679,149, which is an improvement over Patent No. 2,217,022, there is disclosed another means of changing yarn feeding fingers during the patterned area of a stocking, to afford means for varying the color of the diamonds in the leg, which is controlled from the pattern chain. With the structure as shown in said Patent No. 2,217,022 and said Patent No. 2,679,149 it is not possible to change yarn feeding fingers during the non-patterned area except by moving or racking the main pattern drum 20. Therefore the number of times the yarn feeding fingers can be changed by movement of the main pattern drum is necessarily limited since the drum must be moved to actuate mechanism to shift the machine 4 from reciprocatory to rotary knitting and other necessary functions of the knitting machine also.

The present invention provides a third or auxiliary independent pattern control means for changing the yarn feeding fingers, at the main knitting station, during knitting of the stocking in areas other than the patterned leg portion and controlled by movement of the pattern chain 13. The third yarn feeding finger changing means includes auxiliary yarn change lever operating levers 65a and 65b pivoted on the rod 56 but which do not have tails for engaging the drum or the cams thereon. The auxiliary yarn change lever operating levers a and 65b extend inwardly from the rod 56 and are eachprovided with a downwardly extending portion 66 adapted to engage one end of the corresponding levers 45 and an upwardly extending portion 67 (Figure 3). The upwardly extending portions 67 of the yarn lever operating lever 65a is in alinement with and adapted to be engaged by depressing or operating cam members 70a and 70b which are fixed to and extend outwardly in opposite directions from a hub or collar 70 fixed on a horizontally extending shaft 72. A pair of outwardly extending depressing or operating cam members 71a and 71b are fixed to opposite sides of a hub or collar 71. The collar '71 is fixed on the shaft 72 so that when the cams 70d and 7012 are in a vertical position the cams 71a and 711) will be in a horizontal position (Figure 3).

The shaft 72 is suitably journaled in upstanding bearing members 73 and 74 suitably secured on a stationary part of the knitting machine. The shaft 72 extends beyond the bearing member 74 and has a racking wheel '77 fixed thereon and provided With a plurality of racking lugs or teeth for racking the shaft one quarter of a revolution at a time, in a manner to be later described (Figures 4, 5 and 6). The shaft 72 also passes through a slot 32 in a pawl controlling arm 84 oscillatably mounted as at 85 on the upper end of a support member 86 which is bent and suitably secured to a fixed portion of the knitting machine. The pawl control arm 84 is normally urged upwardly to the position shown in Figure 5 by a tension spring 90, one end of which is fixed to the rear end of the pawl control arm 84 and the opposite end of which is fixed on the support 86. The forward end of the pawl control arm 84 is adapted to be moved from the position shown in Figure 5 to the position shown in Figures 4 and 6 by linkage which may be a Bowden wire 92, one end of which is suitably secured to the pawl control arm 84 and the opposite of which extends downwardly (Figure 7) and is suitably connected to one end of a control lever in the form of a bell crank 94. The bell crank 94 is oscillatably mounted intermediate its ends as at 94a and the reading end thereof is adapted to, at times, be engaged and actuated'by suitable outwardly extending lugs 97 (Figure 3) suitably secured on the left-hand side of the pattern chain 13.

Thus, when one of the lugs 97 engages the reading end of the bell crank 94 it will be rocked slightly in a clockwise direction, in Figure 7, to thus lower the arm of the bell crank, with the Bowden wire 92 connected thereto, and move the pawl control arm 84 from the position shown in Figure 5 to the position shown in Figures 4 and 6.

A racking arm or pawl 95 is provided with a bent end portion 96 which extends above the racking wheel 77 and control arm 84. The portion 96 of the racking arm 95 is adapted to ride along the upper surface of the control arm 84 when the arm 84 is in the position shown in Figure 5 and to engage the cam portions 80 and rack the wheel 77 one quarter revolution when the arm 84 is in the position shown in Figures 4 and 6. The racking arm 95 extends through a suitable slot in the upper end of a guiding and support member 100 which is twisted, below the racking arm 95, and the lower end thereof is suitably secured to the frame of the knitting machine. The rear end of the racking arm 95 is oscillatably m0unted as at- 102 on the upper end'of-an actuating lever 103, the lower end of-which is oscillatably mounted as at 104 0110116 leg of an angle bracket 105, the other leg of which is on ,the frame, of the machine (Figures 1 and 4). The upper endof the lever-103 extends through and is guided in a slot in 'a horizontally disposed guide member 107 the forwardend of which is twisted and fixed on the frame of the knitting machine. 7

The lever-3103 is also providedwith a branch arm 110 (Figure 9) the lower end of which is fixed on the lower portion of the lever 103 as at 113. The branch arm 110 is bent so that its upper end is spaced away from the lever-103- (Figure 9);and disposed in alinement with a pin"111 fixed on inner sides of a conventional needle selecting control-drum 112. The drum 1 12 is fixed on the shaft "62 and is adapted to make one revolution with four revolutions of the needle cylinder 30. The upper end of the branch arm 110, lever 103 and racking pawl 95 is urged forwardly to the'positoin shown in Figure by atension spring 114, oneend of which is fixed to the upper end of the lever 103 and the other end of which is fixed to the upper end of the support arm 100. The forwardxr novement of the racking pawl is limited by. the lever3103 "engaging the'forward end of the slot in the guide member 107. With rotation of the drum 112, the pin 111 will engage the branch arm 110 and move the lever-"103 and racking pawl 95 rearwardly (Figures 4 and 6) until the pin; 111 passes over the upper end of the brancharm 110." l

. Method of operation motion imparted to the needle cylinder 30- and with onlythe main knitting station-33 being inoperative position to knit-a'single course with each rotation of the needle cylinder. When knitting a sock on a conventional argyle pattern machine, a single yarn feeding finger 43 is lowered to operative position to make the complete top 120 of the stocking S from the same colored yarn. However, with the attachment of this-invention it ispossible to change the yarns which are fed to the needles at'the' main throat 42 by the third yarn feeding finger changing mechanism to make .coursewise stripes. One method of providing stripes in the top-7:120 of the sock would be to allow the third :pattern mechanism to control the yarn feeding fingers 43a and 43b and with the cam member 70a in the position shown in Figures 1 through 3, the cam memberv :7 0a would lower the auxiliary lever 65a to cause the yarn-feeding finger'43a to 'be raised out of knitting action, to.,the position shown in Figure 3, and the cam members 7111 and 71b would be disposed in a-horizontal position so that theyarn feeding finger 43b would be in a lowered or v operative positionto feedvyarn to the active needles passing thereby, which in-this case would be all of the needlesin the needle cylinder during rotary knitting. After any,predetermin ed number of courses being knit with the yarnfeedingfingers-43b which may be supplied with one colored yarn, such as red, and upon a lug 97 on the chain :13 engaging the bell crank 94 the Bowden wire 92 Willpull the lever 84 downwardlyfrom the positionshown in Figure 5. to the position shown in Figure 4. Upon the nextreciprocation of the lever 103 the inturned .portioni96 ofthecontrol arm 95 will engage one of the lugs.80 on the racking-wheel 7-7 (Figure 6) to thus move .the-rackingwheel 77 and the shaft 72 ninety degrees. in a clockwise direction so that .the cams 76a and 70b will then assume a horizontal or non-engaging position to release the finger 43a and the cams 71a and 71b will assume a vertical position. The then lowermost cam 71b Will-engage the lever 65!: and cause .the yarn feeding finger 43b to be raised to inoperative position. At the same time, the yarn feeding finger 43a having a different colored yarn, such as a white yarn, will be lowered to operative Qrfeeding position to let all of the needles .take this yarn for :thedesirednumber of courses.

The drum 112' makes a complete revolution with each four -rotations of the needle cylinder and thus the pin 111 will engage the arm 110 to reciprocate the pawl95 with four reciprocations or rotations of the needle cylinder '30. The arm 96 of the pawl 95 will not be able to engage the lugs 80 on the racking wheel 77 as long as the control plate 84 is in the position shown in Figure 5 but will merely ride down'the inclined surface thereof without engaging the lugs on the racking wheels 77. Thus, any time that it is desired to change the yarn feeding fingers 43a and 435 it is merely necessary to provide a lng.97. on the chain 13 to lower the plate 84 so that with the next rotation of the drum 112, the pin 111 will engage the arm 110 attached to thelever 103 to thereby move the rack wheel 77 and shaft '72 ninety degrees and to switch the cam members 70a, 70b and 71a, 71b from vertical to horizontal positions or vice versa.

'With the machine setup as illustrated, that is wtih one pin 111 on the drum 112, the stripes in the top 120 of the stocking S must be at least four courses wide since the drum 112 makes one revolution with each four revolutions of the needle cylinder and thus four courses will be made before the pin 111 can again engage the arm 110 to actuate the lever 103. However, a similar pin maybe provided across the drum 112, one hundred and eighty degrees from the present pin 111, so that with each revolution of the drum 112 the arm 119 will be engagedtwo times, as long as the plate 84- is in a lowered position, to provide stripes two courses Wide by alternating the fingers 43a and 43b.

After completion of the top 120 a patterned leg por tion is made, in a conventional manner, with the machine shifting-into reciprocatory knitting and the auxiliary feeding station, not shown, moving into operative position so thatalthough a complete course is knit with each reciprocation of the needle cylinder two of the colored areas or diamonds, forming the argyle pattern, are knit with yarns from one knitting station, for instance at the main knitting station and the other two diamonds are knit at the other or auxiliary knitting station. The yarn feeding fingers 43 are then controlled from the drum on to cause the fingers to dance orbounce as selected needles pass thereby to knit partial courses from alternating fingers at the throat plate or throat opening 4 2. The same operation is occurring at the oppositeside of the needle cylinder from that shown inFigure 1 and is conventional as clearly shownand described in said Patent No. 2,217,022. Although an argyle type patterned leg portion 121 is shown in Figure 10, it is to be understood that any desired patterned area may be applied to the leg of the Stocking with the machine reciprocatorily knitting and alternatively feedingyarn feeding fingers from both the main and auxiliary knitting stations and with the fingers being controlled by the drum 60.

After completion of the patterned leg portion 121 of the stocking S the auxiliary feeding station and stitch cams, not shown, are moved to inoperative position and singlefeed knitting then occurs in a reciprocatory manner to knit a heel pocket indicated at 122 in Figure 10. In this case, the yarn feeding finger 4321, with the red yarn, is held in an inoperative position since the cam members 71a and 7-1b occupy a vertical position and the cam members a and 70b occupy a horizontal position to allow the yarn feeding finger 43a, with the white yarn,

to be moved to the operative position and feed the white yarn to the raised or active needles during the first part of the narrowing operation in the heel pocket 122. After the desired number of narrowed partial courses have been knit with the white yarn in the feed finger 43a, a lug 97 will engage the bell crank 94 to move the plate 84 from the position shown in Figure 5 to the position shown in-Figures 4 and 6 so that upon the pin 111 engaging the arm 11% the pawl 95 will be moved rearwardly and thus engage a lug 80 on the rack wheel 77 and rotate the rack wheel 77, shaft 72 and cams ninety degrees so that the cams Mia and 70b will assume a vertical position and the cams 71a and 71b will assume a horizontal position. The yarn feeding fingers will thus be reversed so that the yarn feeding finger 43a will be moved upwardly to inoperative position, in the position shown in Figure 3, and the yarn feeding finger 43b will be moved downwardly to the feeding position so that the yarn from the finger, in this case a red yarn, will be picked up and knit by the lowered or active needles knitting in the remaining partial courses of the narrowed segment of the heel pocket 122 to change yarn color and start knitting a gusset indicated at 124 of, in this case, a red yarn.

Upon the desired number of narrowed courses being made in the heel pocket, the conventional Widening operation will occur to widen needles or increase the number of needles knitting in each successive course in the heel pocket with the same yarn feeding finger 43b remaining in action and feeding the red yarn. After an equal number of courses have been knit with the finger 43b in the widened segment of the heel pocket 122 as were knit with the finger 43b in the narrowed segment of the heel pocket 1 22, another lug 97 will engage the bell crank 94 to again lower the plate 84 and allow the racking pawl 95 to rotate the rack wheel 77, shaft 72 and earns ninety degrees or so that the cams 70a and 7% will then assume a horizontal position and the cams 71a and 71b will assume a vertical position. The yarn feeding fingers 43a and 43b will be switched to move the yarn feeding finger 43b to operative or yarn feeding position and to move the yarn feeding finger 43a to inoperative position and the machine will continue knitting the widened portion or segment of the heel pocket 122 with a different colored, in this case white yarn.

Thus, upon completion of the heel pocket 122 there will be formed a gusset 124 of a different colored yarn to gre tly enhance the appearance of the heel pocket 122. After completion of the heel pocket 122, the knitting machine again shifts into rotary knitting, in a conventional manner, to continue knitting with the yarn feeding finger 43a, feeding the white yarn, for any desired number of courses. The knitting machine will still be knitting from only the main knitting station 33 and feeding yarn from only the yarn feeding finger 43a.

if desired, stripes indicated at 130 may be provided in the foot portion of the stocking S with the same attachment as was used to change yarn feeding fingers to knit the patterned section in the heel pocket 122. These stripes 131 of a different colored yarn than the yarn being fed to the finger 43a, may be started by another lug 97 engaging the bell crank 94 to lower the plate 84 and allow the pawl 95 to rotate the rack wheel 77, shaft 72 and the cams ninety degrees so that the cams 70a and 70b assume a horizontal position while the cams 71a and 71b assume a vertical position to thus allow the yarn feeding finger 43b to be moved to operative position and to move the yarn feeding finger 43a to inoperative position. Knitting with the white yarn will cease and knitting with the red yarn will begin and if the lugs 97 on the chain 13 continue, on each chain link, to hold the plate 84 in a lowered position the yarn feeding fingers 43a and 43b will be switched every four courses to knit stripes of contrasting colored yarn in the foot of the stocking to provide a novel pattern of unusual appearance. As many stripes, as desired, may be made in the foot of the stocking during rotary knitting in the foot area before releasing the plate 84 so that it may be raised by the spring 90.

After the desired number of stripes 130 and the desired length of foot has been knit the machine automatically, and in a conventional manner, switches into reciprocatory knitting to knit a toe pocket indicated at 131 by 'first knitting a narrowed segment, followed by-a widened segment with single feed knitting at only the main knitting station 33. During the first portion of the narrowed section of the toe pocket 131 the yarn feeding finger 43a is allowed toremain in operative position so that the color of the first partial courses knit in the narrowed section of the toe pocket 131 will be the same as the color of yarn used in knitting the foot of the stocking. At any desired point in knitting the narrowed courses in the toe pocket 131 a lug 97 may engage the bell crank 94 to again lower the plate 84 and cause the pawl 95 to rotate the racking wheel 77, shaft 72 and cams ninety degrees. Upon rotation of the earns, the cams 70a and 70b will assume a vertical position so that the corresponding yarn feeding finger 43a will be moved to inoperative position. At the same time the cams 71a and 71b will assume a horizontal position so that the yarn feeding finger 43b may be lowered to an operative position and feed a red yarn to begin knitting an area or gusset 132 at the toe 131 of the stocking. The narrowing operation is then continued with the knitting machine knitting partial courses in a reciprocatory manner while knitting the red yarn from the yarn feeding finger 43b and upon the desired number of partial courses being knit, the machine automatically shifts into a widening operation, still knitting the red yarn from the yarn feeding finger 43b to produce widened partial courses from the red yarn. After the desired number of partial courses are made with the red yarn, usually equal in number to the number of partial courses made with the red yarn in the narrowed segment, in the widened segment of the toe pocket 131 another lug 97 engages the bell crank 94 to again cause rotation of the cams so that the cams 70a and 70b assume a horizontal position and the cams 71a and 71b assume a vertical position to thereby switch the yarn feeding fingers 43a and 43b so that the yarn feeding finger 43a then assumes an operative position and the yarn feeding finger 43b assumes an inoperative position and the remaining widened partial courses of the toe pocket 131 are with the white yarn. The widened segment is continued for as long as desired or until the number of partial courses is equal the number of narrowed partial courses in the toe pocket 131.

Upon the toe pocket 131 being completed the usual loopers rounds, not shown, are knit by rotary knitting and by using a single yarn feeding finger 43a in the usual manner. The usual loopers rounds are used primarily to assist the looper in putting the stocking on the looping machine in order to close the toe opening after knitting and to finish the stocking suitable for wear.

it is thus seen that there has been provided an attachment for additionally changing the knitting yarns of a knitting machine which is entirely independent of other conventional yarn changing mechanisms and which additional yarn changing mechanism may be controlled directly from the pattern chain without depending upon rotation of conventional cam drums on the machine. This attachment may also be applied to a knitting machine without disrupting the normal operation of the yarn feeding fingers during any patterned area of the stocking which is already predetermined and is used primarily for making a different pattern in areas which, ordinarily, are plain knit in one colored yarn. Although this attachment is shown as being applied to a particular model knitting machine, it is to be understood that the principals of this invention may be applied to various other types of circular knitting machines to provide an auxiliary means of changing yarn during desired portions of the knitting of a stocking.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes 9 of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

We claim:

1. A yarn feeding finger control system for a circular independent needle knitting machine comprising a plurality of movable yarn feeding fingers, a plurality of yarn change levers each adapted to operate one of said yarn feeding fingers, a main pattern drum operatively connected to said yarn change levers for at times controlling operation of said yarn fingers, a yarn control drum, a plurality of rockers controlled by said control drum and adapted to operate less than all of said yarn change levers, auxiliary levers adapted to operate the re maining yarn change levers, individual cam means engageable with each of said auxiliary levers, and pattern controlled means controlling the position of said cam means and said yarn change levers to thereby move corresponding yarn feeding fingers into and out of operative position.

2. A yarn feeding finger control system for a circular independent needle knitting machine comprising a plurality of movable yarn feeding fingers, a plurality of yarn change levers each operable on corresponding ones of said yarn feeding fingers, a main pattern drum, linkage from said pattern drum to said yarn change levers for at times operating said levers upon movement of said drum, a plurality of rockers operatively engaging certain of said yarn change levers, a yarn control drum controlling operation of said rockers, auxiliary levers operatively engaging the yarn change levers not engaged by said rockers, and cam means engageable with said auxiliary levers to move corresponding yarn feeding fingers into and out of operative position.

3. Ina circular knitting machine having a needle cylinder, vertically movable needles in said cylinder, a knitting station, yarn feeding fingers at said stations, a main pattern drum, a pattern chain, a yarn control drum, primary feeding finger control means operatively controlled by said pattern drum, and secondary feeding fin- 10 ger control means operatively controlled by said yarn control drum to control less than all of said yarn feeding fingers; the combination therewith of auxiliary feeding finger control means operatively controlled by said pattern chain to control said yarn feeding fingers not controlled by said secondary feeding finger control means.

4. Ina structure according to claim 3 wherein the auxiliary feeding finger change means comprises auxiliary levers operable on said primary feeding finger control means, cams alternately operable on said auxiliary levers, means for at times alternating said cams, and control means under control of said pattern chain for actuating the cam alternating means. a

5. In a structure according to claim 4 wherein the means for alternating said cams comprises a rotatable shaft on which said cams are mounted, a racking Wheel on said shaft, a racking arm movable into engagement with said wheel, a lever supporting said racking arm, and means engageable with said lever for reciprocating said lever and said racking arm.

6. In a structure according to claim 5 wherein the means for actuating the cam alternating means comprises a plate adjacent said racking wheel, resilient means normally moving said plate to a first position for preventing engagement of the racking wheel by the racking arm, linkage between the plate and the pattern chain for moving said plate to a second position to thereby permit engagement of the racking wheel by the racking arm, and lugs on said pattern chain for actuating the linkage between the plate and the pattern chain.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,625,808 Green et a1. Jan. 20, 1953 2,655,020 Allen Oct. 13, 1953 2,679,149 Pierre May 25, 1954 2,709,351 Bouthillette May 31, 1955 2,714,813 Hill Aug. 9, 1955 

